TNK-BP confirmed on March 25 that 148 of its BP employees have been
withdrawn from Russia because of visa issues. "The Moscow Times" on
March 26 quoted TNK-BP spokeswoman Marina Dracheva as saying that the
148 BP employees "have been temporarily withdrawn from TNK-BP" due to
"lack of clarity over their current visa status." The Oil Information
Agency on March 24 quoted an "informed source" as saying that the 148
BP employees assigned to TNK-BP were having problems extending their
visas but that it was a "temporary technical problem" that TNK-BP
expected to resolve soon. Interfax quoted a source in "Russian power
structures" as confirming that around 150 foreign TNK-BP employees were
having problems extending their work visas because, among other things,
some of them entered the country on business visas rather than work
visas. The Interfax source said the employees' problems are strictly
connected to Russian migration law and have nothing to do with politics
or any "spy story" -- an apparent reference to Ilya Zaslavsky, a TNK-BP
employee who, along with his brother Alexander, who heads the British
Council's Alumni Club, has been charged by the Federal Security Service
(FSB) with industrial espionage. Both have Russian and U.S.
citizenship. The Moscow offices of TNK-BP and BP were searched on March
19 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 20, 2008). On March 21, the State Duma
approved in a second of three required readings a measure restricting
foreign investment in key sectors such as oil and gas, aerospace and
mass media, AP reported. The legislation requires any private foreign
company wanting to buy more than 50 percent of a company in any of 42
"strategic" sectors to obtain permission from a commission made up of
Russian and security officials. JB

Russia's Interior Ministry said on March 25 that it is investigating
"large-scale tax evasion" to the tune of $40 million involving Sidanco,
an oil unit that TNK-BP liquidated in 2005 after merging it with other
assets during a consolidation, Reuters reported. Following last week's
raid on TNK-BP's offices in Moscow, a spokeswoman for the Interior
Ministry's Investigative Committee, said the raid was carried out by
Interior Ministry investigators on the basis of a criminal case brought
related to Sidanco. Newsru.com reported that the case involving Sidanco
was brought in April 1999 and involved charges of "premeditated
bankruptcy." However, several media outlets reported that the raid on
TNK-BP and a subsequent raid on BP's offices in the Russian capital
were conducted by FSB personnel (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 20,
2008). Following the raids, the FSB announced it has charged a TNK-BP
employee and his brother with industrial espionage. According to
Reuters, the Interior Ministry said the tax-evasion case involving
Sidanco was opened in mid-2007. The news agency noted that TNK-BP's
other unit, Slavneft, which is co-owned by state gas firm Gazprom, is
facing a separate tax-evasion probe. JB

Oleg Kochkin, the chairman of the Penza Oblast branch of Yabloko who is
also chief editor of the opposition newspaper "Lyubimaya gazeta," has
been arrested on suspicion of extortion for allegedly threatening to
publish compromising material about a Penza resident and his relatives
if the resident refused to pay Kochkin several million rubles,
newsru.com reported on March 25. According to the website, Kochkin
could face seven to 15 years in prison if convicted of extortion.
Yabloko denounced the case against Kochkin as politically motivated,
comparing it to the case against St. Petersburg Yabloko leader Maksim
Reznik, who was arrested on March 2 for allegedly insulting and
assaulting police officers. A St. Petersburg court ordered Reznik's
release on March 21, throwing out an earlier district court ruling
ordering that he remain in jail for two months pending trial, "The
Moscow Times" reported on March 24. Meanwhile, kasparov.ru reported
that nearly all of the copies of Kochkin's newspaper "Lyubimaya gazeta"
published on March 19 were withdrawn from sale because they included a
supplement that contained negative assessments of Penza Oblast Governor
Vasily Bochkarev's record over the past decade. On March 24, the
offices of "Lyubimaya gazeta" in Penza and the city of Kuznetsk were
searched, with a computer server seized from the latter, kasparov.ru
reported. JB

Investigative Committee Chairman Aleksandr Bastrykin has come out
against the idea of creating a single investigative committee analogous
to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, newsru.com reported on
March 25. On March 18, "RBK Daily" reported that the idea of creating a
Federal Investigation Service, an FBI-like body that would unite all of
Russia's investigative bodies under one roof, had been agreed to in
principle "at the highest level" and that the new body could come into
being as early as this autumn. "RBK Daily" reported that either
Bastrykin or another former classmate of President Vladimir Putin,
Aleksei Anichin, head of the Interior Ministry's Investigative
Committee, would be put in charge of the new body. According to the
paper, either candidate would guarantee that the Kremlin would maintain
maximal influence over the country's investigative organs. However,
Bastrykin said during a March 25 press conference that he did not find
the idea of a unified investigative committee "constructive," adding,
"Bigger is not always more effective or better." Such a body would
complicate the work of investigators and be difficult to manage, he
said. "It's one thing to head a department in which there are 16,500
investigators, and another thing -- [one with] 120,000 people,"
newsru.com quoted him as saying. In addition, Bastrykin said creating a
"separate organ torn out" of the operational services of the Interior
Ministry, Federal Antinarcotics Service, and FSB "is also wrong." The
head of the Federal Antinarcotics Service's interagency and information
activities department, Aleksandr Mikhailov, also rejected the idea of
creating a single investigative committee, calling it
"counterproductive," newsru.com reported. JB

Sergei Kiriyenko, who heads the state nuclear energy agency Rosatom,
and Egypt's Energy Minister Hassan Younis signed an agreement in Moscow
on March 25, under which Russia will compete in a tender for Egypt's
first civilian nuclear power station, Russian and international media
reported. The tender is estimated at $1.5 billion-$2 billion. Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak, Russian President Putin, and President-elect
Dmitry Medvedev oversaw the signing. Egypt wants to build up to four
nuclear power stations, and the international tender to build the first
of them may come as early as later in 2008. The daily "Gazeta" noted on
March 26 that "signing this agreement was the Egyptian delegation's
main purpose in visiting Russia." After talks with Mubarak at the
presidential residence at Novo-Ogaryovo, Putin said that Russian
officials are consulting with the United States and Middle Eastern
countries about holding an international conference on the Middle East
in Moscow at an unspecified date (see "RFE/RL Newsline," January 17 and
March 20, 2008). He stressed that "if this conference takes place, we
want it to be a Moscow conference by definition. A meeting such as this
should be an event in its own right." Putin added that "the main thing
in our opinion is that the parties concerned stop the violence.... We
urge both sides to look to the future and take this as their basis,
rather than day-to-day preoccupations." Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
recently visited the Middle East to enlist support for the conference,
which Russia sees as an affirmation of its role as a major player in
regional and world affairs. Mubarak said that he looks forward to a
Moscow conference in order to end the current "impasse" in the Middle
East. According to "The Moscow Times" on March 26, he also said that
"he found it difficult to distinguish...Putin from...Medvedev,
eliciting a frown from Putin and chuckles from reporters." The daily
described the remark as a "political faux pas, [which] cast a brief
shadow over Mubarak's two-day visit." The daily noted that possible
Russian arms deliveries to Egypt were also discussed, but added that it
is not clear if there was any agreement. The United States has long
been Egypt's main arms supplier. PM

The Norwegian shipbuilder Aker Yards ASA announced in Oslo and Rostock
on March 25 that it has sold 70 percent of two German and one Ukrainian
shipyards to the Russian investment group FLC West for $450 million,
the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" reported on March 26. The Baltic
yards are located at Wismar and in the Rostock suburb of Warnemuende,
while the Black Sea facility is at Mykolayiv. The yards will build
specialized ships, especially for Russian oil and gas drilling and
transport companies. The deal is expected to be finalized later in
2008. FLC West is based in Luxembourg, with the Russian state holding a
50 percent share, AP reported. The other 50 percent is held by a
Cyprus-based group of private shareholders. PM

Citing unnamed "sources close to the investigation," Interfax and RIA
Novosti reported on March 26 that a Russian Air Force Su-25 combat jet
was accidentally shot down on March 20 near Vladivostok by a missile
fired from another plane, killing the pilot of the first plane. The
Defense Ministry has not confirmed the report but said that an
investigation is under way. On March 26, Russian news agencies reported
that "NATO jets in the region of Alaska escorted" two Tu-95 (Bear)
long-range bombers within neutral airspace. In August 2007, President
Putin announced the resumption of long-range strategic bomber flights
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," August 23, 2007). In public statements, U.S.
and NATO officials play down the significance of the Russian flights
and the dispatch of NATO aircraft to "escort" the Russian planes (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," February 13, 2008). PM

President Putin signed a decree on March 26 replacing Colonel General
Aleksandr Chekalin as first deputy interior minister with Lieutenant
General Mikhail Sukhodolsky, newsru.com reported. Sukhodolsky has been
a deputy minister since 2005. Interfax reported that Chekalin has
reached the unspecified mandatory retirement age for his post, which he
held since 2004, and was transferred to another, unspecified job. PM

Armenian Prime Minister and President-elect Serzh Sarkisian traveled to
Moscow on March 24 for separate talks with Russian President Putin and
President-elect Medvedev, Armenian media reported. Sarkisian thanked
Putin for his support both in the run-up to the February 19
presidential ballot and during the ensuing protests and violence,
RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. He said he is determined "to do
everything to establish stability..., consolidate society, and create
an atmosphere of tolerance." He also assured Putin of his commitment to
deepen and expand Armenia's already intensive economic and military
cooperation with Russia. The pro-government daily "Hayots ashkhar"
predicted on March 25 that Moscow's unequivocal expression of support
for Sarkisian "is creating a firm basis on which Armenia can rely on
and feel more confident in coping with possible international pressure"
resulting from the police violence against opposition protesters in
Yerevan on March 1-2. LF

A special investigator from the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office
traveled late last week to Ufa where he met with Ural Rakhimov, who is
director general of Bashneft and the son of Murtaza Rakhimov,
Bashkortostan's president since December 1993, "Kommersant" reported on
March 26. The investigator's questions to Rakhimov were apparently
related to the case of Igor Izmestev, the former Bashkortostan senator
apprehended by the FSB in Kyrgzystan in January 2007, and who is
charged with organizing several murders and terrorist acts, including
the killing of Rakhimov's financial adviser, Valery Speransky (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," January 18, 2007). LF

The bodies of two men and a woman killed by security forces on February
28 in Altiyevo on the northeastern outskirts of Nazran have reportedly
been handed back to their families for burial with the internal organs
missing, according to ingushetiya.ru on March 25, quoting the Chechen
Committee for National Salvation. The woman, Madina Ausheva, was
reportedly pregnant. Security officials claimed that that the three
were members of an illegal armed formation and opened fire on security
forces who sought to detain them (see "RFE/RL Newsline," February 29,
2008). Residents of neighboring houses denied the three resorted to
firearms and expressed doubt that they had any links to the armed
resistance. Under the controversial Russian law on terrorism, the
bodies of "terrorists" are interred in unmarked graves, the location of
which is not divulged to their families. Ausheva's brother Ruslan was
similarly killed in June 2007 by security forces who claimed, without
proof, that he headed an illegal armed formation (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," June 18, 2007). LF

Opposition Hanrapetutiun party leader Aram Sargsian, who served as
Armenian prime minister from November 1999-May 2000, was summoned on
March 25 to the Prosecutor-General's Office and formally charged with
organizing mass unrest and seeking to seize power, Noyan Tapan and
RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. He was not taken into custody, but
signed an undertaking not to leave Armenia. He told RFE/RL that he
refused to testify. Sargsian backed the presidential bid of former
President Levon Ter-Petrossian and played a key role in organizing the
protests by Ter-Petrossian's supporters against the perceived
falsification of the results of the February 19 presidential ballot.
The official results proclaimed Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian the
winner with 52.8 percent of the vote, followed by Ter-Petrossian with
21.51 percent. Also on March 25, police arrested Arshak Banuchian, a
deputy director of the Matenadaran institute of ancient manuscripts and
likewise a committed Ter-Petrossian supporter, after searching his
Yerevan apartment the previous evening, RFE/RL's Armenian Service
reported. On March 24 and 25, residents of a village near the town of
Hrazdan in central Armenia staged protest to demand the release from
custody of local parliamentarian Sasun Mikaelian, a third prominent
Ter-Petrossian supporter arrested in the wake of the March 1-2 violent
clashes in Yerevan between police and Ter-Petrossian supporters,
RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. Opposition journalists who sought
to cover that protest were harassed by police who desisted only after
the journalists telephoned the Yerevan office of human rights ombudsman
Armen Harutiunian, whose staff came to their assistance. LF

The Giumri-based independent GALA television channel has succeeded over
the past week in raising almost 27 million drams ($87,700) to pay a
fine imposed on it on March 19 for alleged tax evasion, RFE/RL's
Armenian Service reported. Up to 10,000 residents of Giumri and the
surrounding Shirak region donated money to enable the channel to avoid
closure. One donor gave 5,000 drams, one-fifth of his monthly pension,
while a second told RFE/RL: "GALA is the only Armenian TV station that
had the courage to be independent of the government. I want my kids to
grow up in a free country and to be able to freely express their
views." GALA fell foul of the authorities last fall after it ignored
instructions not to air footage of Ter-Petrossian's September 21
indictment of the Armenian leadership (see "RFE/RL Newsline," October
23, November 1 and 13, and December 5 and 20, 2007). LF

In line with an agreement reached during talks in Moscow in
mid-February, flights between Moscow and Tbilisi resumed on March 25
after an 18-month break, Georgian and Russian media reported. Flights
were suspended in the fall of 2006 when bilateral relations sharply
deteriorated following the arrest in Tbilisi for espionage of four
Russian Embassy employees (see "RFE/RL Newsline," October 2 and 3,
2006). "Kommersant" on March 26 quoted unnamed Russian Foreign Ministry
officials as saying that Russia is currently considering lifting all
visa requirements for Georgian citizens and resuming postal
communications between the two countries. LF

In response to a personal appeal, the second in six days, by Georgian
Patriarch Ilia II, representatives of the eight-party opposition
National Council announced on March 25 the end of the hunger strike
launched 17 days earlier, civil.ge reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"
March 10, 11, 17, and 25, 2008). At the same time, People's Party
leader Koba Davitashvili told several thousand opposition supporters
gathered outside the parliament building in Tbilisi that "we shall
continue our struggle." He termed the rejection several hours earlier
of the opposition's demands by President Mikheil Saakashvili "a
declaration of war," and warned that if the authorities seek to rig the
outcome of the parliamentary ballot scheduled for May 21 in the same
way that he claimed they falsified the outcome of the January 5 preterm
presidential ballot, "the opposition will call for a new revolution. If
Saakashvili wants a new revolution he will have it, but it won't be a
velvet revolution," Davitashvili added. Speaking earlier on March 25 in
the eastern region of Kakheti, Saakashvili complained that although he
has offered "many things to various political parties in order to
satisfy everybody and to hold elections in a normal atmosphere," the
radical opposition remains intent on "thwarting the elections,"
civil.ge reported. Saakashvili affirmed that the May 21 ballot will be
"very clear and transparent." Also on March 25, parliament speaker Nino
Burjanadze, whose resignation some opposition parties were demanding,
argued that the opposition should return to the negotiating table to
try to "reach agreement on all those issues that will help us to hold
democratic elections, which in turn would help us to make one more step
toward NATO and toward the reunification of the country," civil.ge
reported. LF

According to a press release issued in Astana, a joint Kazakh-Russian
operation on March 25 targeted an arms-trafficking network, according
to Interfax-Kazakhstan. The operation involved units from the West
Kazakhstan Oblast branch of the Interior Ministry, the Kazakh National
Security Committee, and the Russian Saratov Oblast branch of the
Interior Ministry and "liquidated an underground workshop and
international channel for the illicit production, smuggling, and trade
of military weapons in Uralsk," the administrative capital of West
Kazakhstan Oblast. The release added that the operation also resulted
in the arrests of an unspecified number of suspects in both Uralsk and
Saratov. In a separate operation the same day, Kazakh police launched a
sweep aimed at rounding up illegal labor migrants, arresting 135
laborers without legal work permits, 60 of whom were Uzbek citizens, 40
were from Kyrgyzstan, and another 35 were from Turkey. Kazakh police
have conducted regular sweeps of major urban centers aimed at stemming
the influx of illegal laborers, resulting in the deportation of 476
foreign workers since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, Kazakh
border guards in the South Kazakhstan Oblast on March 24 seized a
shipment of nearly 3 tons of nonferrous and 8 tons of ferrous metal
being smuggled from Uzbekistan into Kazakhstan, Interfax-Kazakhstan
reported. Border guards also told reporters that the operation resulted
in the arrest of two Kazakh citizens in the Maktaaral district of South
Kazakhstan Oblast. RG

At a press conference in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Defense Minister Ismail Isakov
reported on March 25 on the course of defense reform, asserting that
the Defense Ministry has fulfilled all reform goals initially set in
2005, AKIpress reported. Providing a detailed list of the most
significant accomplishments over the past three years of defense
reform, Isakov pointed to demonstrable progress in the "moral and
patriotic feeling" of soldiers and noted that the army adopted a
12-month term of active military service and shortened the term of
alternative service to two years. He added that the armed forces are
continuing the transition from the Russian language to using the Kyrgyz
language, and that a new air-defense force has been established, and is
currently deployed in the Osh, Batken, and Jalal-Abad regions. Advanced
training programs have also been introduced, with an emphasis on
mountain-warfare exercises and combat reconnaissance. Responding to a
journalist's question about conscription, Isakov replied that with
190,000 conscripts, there is "no shortage" facing Kyrgyzstan, Kabar
reported. According to Isakov, there are roughly 60,000 Kyrgyz citizens
currently serving as active-duty military personnel and another 17,000
in two-year alternative service. Commenting on the next stage of
military reform, he said that the country will establish a
contract-based semi-professional army by 2025 and, pending
parliamentary approval of new draft legislation, will also adopt a new
military doctrine. Isakov also suggested that a new proposal is now
under consideration that would impose an undetermined tax on citizens
who do not serve in the army and are not eligible for alternative
service. RG

At a press conference in Bishkek, opposition Ar-Namys (Dignity) party
leader Feliks Kulov warned on March 25 that "there is a critical
situation in the country," adding that there is an urgent need to find
a "way out" of the economic crisis, AKIpress reported. Kulov, a former
prime minister, accused government officials of failing to attribute
adequate importance to what he asserted is a "deep economic crisis" and
accused the leadership of not addressing serious environmental and
energy concerns. Kulov further warned the government against "turning a
blind eye" to developments in the south of the country, where he
claimed they risk "losing control of the situation" in light of the
systematic encroachment and assimilation of Kyrgyz territory, Interfax
reported. He advocated relocating to the south such government agencies
as the Emergency Situations and Economic Development and Trade
ministries, the Border Protection Service, and the Agency for Religious
Affairs. Kulov said that his party does not support other opposition
parties' demands for an early presidential election, adding that "there
are no legal grounds for President Kurmanbek Bakiev to resign,"
according to the 24.kg website. But he did support calls to reduce the
president's excessive "personal power." RG/LF

At the conclusion of a two-day summit in Dushanbe, the foreign
ministers of Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Iran signed on March 25 a
joint 12-point communique pledging tripartite cooperation in the energy
and transport sectors and vowing to expand economic cooperation, Avesta
reported. The three hailed the meeting as an important step toward
"economic integration" and greater regional cooperation, adding that
they also agreed to establish a new Dushanbe-based Persian-language
television channel to broadcast in each country. Addressing reporters
following the signing, Tajik Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zarifi added
that they confirmed their readiness "to intensify economic and
humanitarian cooperation," but stressed that the trilateral summit was
not directed against any third party, according to ITAR-TASS. The
trilateral summit was intended to bolster new efforts at "trilateral
cooperation" and establishing a Tajik-Iranian-Afghan "economic council"
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 25, 2008). Iran is actively engaged in
developing several hydroelectric power plants in Tajikistan and is also
working to complete construction of a planned
Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Iran highway. A related project envisions the
construction of a new railway link connecting Iran, Afghanistan,
Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and China, aimed at boosting trade, increasing
exports, and easing transit costs in the region, as well as expanding
passenger traffic. RG

Around 3,000 people took part in a March 25 rally in Minsk marking the
90th anniversary of the proclamation of Belarusian People's Republic,
which pro-democratic Belarusians regard as a key event in the formation
of Belarusian statehood in the 20th century, Belapan reported. The
Minsk city authorities permitted demonstrators to march from the
National Academy of Sciences to Bangalore Square on the outskirts of
the city, but the organizers rejected that route, calling on the public
to gather at Yakub Kolas Square in the downtown. The square was sealed
off by riot police, who forced people to move toward the Academy of
Sciences. Several hundred people attempted to march in the opposite
direction, but the police blocked the way. Those who managed to push
their way through the police cordons were dispersed from the main
avenue to quieter streets, where some were beaten and detained. The
rally took place in front of the Academy of Sciences, where Belarusian
Popular Front leaders Lyavon Barshcheuski and Vintsuk Vyachorka
delivered speeches. Vyachorka accused the Russian government of using
its energy resources as a tool to incorporate Belarus. The gathering
decided to disperse rather than to march to the square on the outskirts
of the city. According to Ales Byalyatski, head of the Vyasna Human
Rights Center, around 100 people were detained during the
demonstration. AM

Belarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrey Papou said on March 25
that if the United States really wants "a different relationship" with
Belarus, it should lift its sanctions, Belapan reported. Papou was
responding to a U.S. State Department statement that the United States
wants "a different relationship with Belarus, but that can only happen
when the government of Belarus shows commitment to respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms." Papou said that the State Department
"misleads the international and American public, attempting to put the
blame for the current situation in Belarusian-American relations on the
Belarusian side." "Such attempts may be viewed as a manifestation of
the moral and political weakness of the U.S. stance toward Belarus,"
Papou said. He said that it is Washington that should take the blame
for the deterioration of the bilateral relationship and that the United
States is seeking to "cause the Belarusian people and state as much
damage as possible for the sake of subjecting our country to American
interests." Minsk on March 7 recalled its ambassador to the United
States, Mikhail Khvastou, for consultations as a response to the
economic sanctions imposed in November 2007 by the U.S. Treasury
Department against Belarus's largest petrochemical company,
Belnaftakhim (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 17, 18, 19, and 25, 2008).
Minsk also insisted U.S. Ambassador Karen Stewart temporarily leave
Belarus for the same reason, which she did on March 12. Belarusian
television has also accused the U.S. Embassy of organizing a spy ring.
The Belarusian Committee for State Security (KGB) detained U.S. lawyer
Emanuel Zeltser in Minsk on March 12, but has yet to give any
explanation for his arrest and continued detention. AM

The Belarusian KGB has confirmed a report aired on March 23 by
Belarusian television that a U.S. spy ring was smashed in Belarus,
Belapan reported on March 25. "Everything that was broadcast by First
National Channel is true," KGB spokesman Valery Nadtachayeu told
Belapan. The same day, KGB chief Yury Zhadobin said that no one was
arrested in connection with the spy ring. "We are doing prevention work
now. We are probing to what extent this or that article of law, this or
that provision was violated," he said. "The fact that they are trying
to dictate their rules to us on our own territory...is unacceptable,"
he added. According to the report, the U.S. diplomatic mission in Minsk
organized a ring involving some 10 Belarusian citizens who passed to
the United States information "for the use to the detriment of
Belarus." The information was passed to "an FBI officer who worked at
the U.S. Embassy," the report said. It also said that almost all
members of the group were arrested on March 13 at a "secret address
half a kilometer from the U.S. diplomatic mission." The report named
U.S. Embassy officers Bernard Nixon and Curt Finley as being involved
in the spy ring. Jonathan Moore, deputy chief of mission at the U.S.
Embassy in Minsk, denied the report. "We have no spies operating in
Belarus," Moore said. Moore also said that Nixon and Finley are part of
the embassy's security service and had contacts with the Belarusian
police as part of their duties. Moore added that Nixon left Belarus in
July 2007 and Finley is expected to leave the country this week. AM

[23] UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ORDERS GOVERNMENT TO PREPARE LONG-TERM
CONTRACTS WITH GAZPROM

President Viktor Yushchenko said on March 25 that he has ordered the
government to hold talks with Russian gas monopoly Gazprom by March 31
on the conclusion of long-term contracts regarding gas supplies to
Ukraine and gas transit across Ukrainian territory, RFE/RL's Ukrainian
Service reported. Yushchenko also said that Ukraine owes $2 billion to
Gazprom for gas that has been delivered since January 1, and that the
government has failed to clarify how it intends to repay this debt.
Ukrainian gas operator Naftohaz Ukrayiny and Gazprom earlier this month
signed an agreement on direct gas supplies starting from March 1.
According to the agreement, Gazprom will supply Naftohaz by December 31
with at least 49.8 billion cubic meters of gas at $179.50 per 1,000
cubic meters. AM

Rescuers searching for 18 missing Ukrainian seamen who were on board a
tugboat that sank near Hong Kong found late on March 25 the bodies of
two of them, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported. The Ukrainian tugboat
"Natohaz-97" sank on March 22 after colliding with a Chinese ship (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," March 25, 2008). The rescuers have not been able to
get inside the tugboat, which is in water 35 meters deep, and are
awaiting the arrival of a crane that will be able to lift the ship to
the surface. AM

Kosova's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci said in Prishtina on March 25 that
Belgrade's recent proposal, made to the UN, to partition Kosova along
ethnic lines is unacceptable, news agencies reported (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," March 19 and 25, 2008). He stressed that "Kosova is an
independent, sovereign, and democratic country. Belgrade has to
understand this." President Fatmir Sejdiu said that Kosova is an
"integral territory" and that others have no right to make "senseless"
plans to divide it. On March 26, the Belgrade daily "Politika"
suggested that the Serbian plan is based on the principle of ethnically
based, rather than territorially based, partition. Kosova's Serbs live
widely scattered throughout the territory. In northern Mitrovica on
March 25, about 3,000 Serbs called on the Serbian Army and police to
"enforce" the partition, AP reported. Local Serbian political leader
Milan Ivanovic urged Belgrade to appeal to Russia to send troops to
"protect" Kosova's Serbs. It is not clear against what he wants
protection for the Serbian minority, which enjoys wide-ranging rights
under the plan drawn up by UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, on which Kosova's
constitution is based (see "RFE/RL Newsline," March 20, 2008). Reuters
on March 25 quoted Kosovar Serb political leader Oliver Ivanovic as
accusing Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party
of Serbia (DSS) of "playing politics" with the fate of Kosova's widely
scattered Serbs by proposing partition. Ivanovic argued that "in the
north it's easy to play the big Serb and score cheap points, but it
will cost the Serbs of central Kosovo dearly. The feeling of being
abandoned would be intolerable for them, and would inevitably increase
the migration of Serbs from Kosovo." PM

Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica said in Belgrade on March 24 that
Serbs should be prepared to wait "many, many years" for EU membership
until the EU recognizes Kosova as part of Serbia, news agencies
reported. He added that Norway and Switzerland "cooperate" with the EU
but are not members of it. Reuters noted on March 25 that "Norway and
Switzerland rank in the world's top 10 richest countries by GDP per
capita. Serbia ranks 104th, and Serbs are impatient for the prosperity
that EU membership would promote." German regional expert Stefan Wolff
told Deutsche Welle on March 25 that "the sooner Serbs realize that
Kosovo was lost some 20 years ago when its autonomy was revoked and
[President Slobodan] Milosevic and his allies brutally asserted their
control, the sooner they can move on with building a viable,
democratic, European state." Kostunica's poll ratings in the run-up to
the May 11 general elections stand at around 10 percent (see "RFE/RL
Balkan Report," February 13 and March 11, 2008). PM

The Afghan Defense Ministry has dismissed a Taliban threat to expand
its operations across the country this spring, and said on March 25 its
security forces are now stronger than ever, AFP reported the same day.
A ministry statement said the Afghan National Army is in an excellent
position compared to a year ago, and it described the Taliban as
fragile. Meanwhile, a Taliban representative called the media with a
statement allegedly from one of the insurgent movement's most senior
members, Mullah Bradar, to announce Operation Ebrat (Lesson). "This
will be a new type of operation to expand operations countrywide and
surround the enemy wherever they are and encounter them," the statement
said. It said the Taliban's "holy jihad" will continue until the
international troops leave Afghanistan and President Hamid Karzai's
administration collapses. AT

According to a statement issued by the Afghan Defense Ministry on March
25, Afghan forces killed and wounded a number of Taliban militants
after fighting off an ambush in southern Afghanistan, Reuters reported
the same day. Taliban fighters ambushed an Afghan National Army patrol
in the Misan district of Zabul Province on March 24. Defense Ministry
spokesman Zahir Murad said, "The operation is still going on and we are
assessing information about the precise figure of enemy casualties." AT

Taliban militants have killed an Afghan refugee in a Pakistani tribal
area, accusing him of spying for the U.S. forces operating in
Afghanistan, AFP reported on March 25. A note left on the body of
Abdullah Jan read: "he met his fate because he was spying for the
Americans," said an official in Miranshah, the main town in the North
Waziristan tribal district. Militants have killed several tribesmen in
recent months after accusing them of spying for the U.S.-led coalition
forces across the border. The region is a known center of Al-Qaeda and
Taliban militants who are accused by U.S. and Afghan governments of
using the area to launch attacks into Afghanistan. AT

An Afghan parliamentary committee said on March 25 it wants security
barriers blocking roads in the capital, including around a five-star
hotel attacked by the Taliban in January, to be removed, AFP reported
the same day. The committee said in a statement that after a meeting
with the city mayor and police, officials decided that "Kabul
municipality should take the necessary steps to remove the barriers and
inform related organizations." Kabul traffic is often jammed because of
barriers blocking off entire roads and large, concrete antiblast blocks
positioned in main thoroughfares. The government in 2006 ordered the
concrete barriers to be cleared. International groups objected and the
decision was not fully implemented. AT

Vice President Dick Cheney told ABC television in an interview released
on March 25 that Iran is "obviously" pursuing uranium-enrichment
activities as part of a nuclear weapons-development program, AFP
reported. Cheney, who has been on a tour of the Middle East, did not
elaborate on his allegations. Iran insists it intends to produce
nuclear fuel -- which includes the enrichment of uranium -- for use in
civilian power stations. "Obviously they're...heavily involved in
trying to develop nuclear weapons enrichment, the enrichment of uranium
to weapons-grade levels," Cheney said. Separately, the U.S. Commerce
Department sanctioned a British firm on March 21 for exporting three
U.S. planes to Iran in breach of sanctions regulations, Reuters
reported on March 24. Iran has had three separate UN sanctions
resolutions imposed on it intended to force it to curb and clarify its
nuclear program. The Commerce Department Bureau of Industry and
Security suspended for 180 days the exporting privileges of the Balli
Group in Britain, Blue Airways based in Armenia, and Mahan Airways, an
Iranian firm. It cited evidence that the parties knowingly violated
U.S. export regulations and lied about the destination of three planes
sent to Iran. It was not immediately clear how the Armenian and Iranian
firms were involved in the deal. Balli has refused to send the planes
back to the United States in compliance with a Commerce Department
request. U.S. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd
(Democrat, Connecticut) welcomed the decision in Washington on March 24
as in line with efforts to block the transfer of sensitive technology
to Iran, Reuters reported. VS

Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki told reporters in Dushanbe
on March 24 that Iran is ready and has asked to join the Shanghai
Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional grouping that comprises
Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and China, and
that Tajikistan supports its bid, IRNA reported. Iran is presently an
observer. Speaking after a meeting with Tajik President Emomali Rahmon,
Mottaki said they discussed bilateral cooperation on energy,
transportation, and communications, as well multilateral regional
cooperation. A Russian presidential representative at the SCO, Leonid
Moiseyev, told Interfax in Moscow on March 25 that the six SCO members
would have to consider lifting a moratorium on the admission of new
members before Iran could join, and they need to clarify to what extent
Iran's request meets with their interests. He welcomed Iran's
application as indicating the grouping's greater attraction for outside
states. Mottaki also discussed cooperation between Iran, Afghanistan
and Tajikistan with counterparts from those countries during his
two-day trip in Dushanbe, IRNA reported. He said on March 25 before his
return to Tehran that a committee consisting of deputy foreign
ministers of the three countries will be formed to follow up agreements
made in Dushanbe. VS

Some 200 people protested on March 23 and 24 outside the main prison in
Sanandaj in western Iran over the continued detention of labor activist
Mahmud Salehi, Radio Farda reported on March 25. Salehi, who apparently
represents a bakers union, was arrested in April 2007 after local
authorities summoned him for questioning (see "RFE/RL Newsline," April
13 and December 20, 2007). He reportedly began a hunger strike over a
week ago. The protesters, including his relatives, have demanded his
release and expressed concern over his health. One protester, Mahmud
Abdipur, told Radio Farda on March 24 or 25 that Salehi has served his
prison time and should have been released on March 23. He said the
local judiciary refused to see Salehi's family on March 24, when the
family went to ask why Salehi has not been released, and has promised
to clarify Salehi's case or have him released on March 26. "They told
us the head of the Kurdistan [Province] judiciary will clarify Mr.
Salehi's case at the end of his holiday. But we are not counting on
that promise and will continue...protests until Mahmud Salehi is
released," Abdipur told Radio Farda. VS

Iran's police are to start a crackdown on bad driving across the
country from March 26 in a bid to reduce traffic accidents (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," March 25, 2008). The traffic police issued a statement on
March 25 informing the public of increased patrols and checks for at
least a week, Fars news agency reported. This would include
plainclothes inspectors or agents driving around or traveling as
passengers in taxis or buses, and noting license plates and reporting
violations to the police. Drivers will be sent fines to their home
addresses, Fars reported. Separately, the national police commander
Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam, said in Birjand, eastern Iran, on March 24 that
the country is making progress in sealing its entire eastern frontier
to prevent the entry of drug traffickers, criminals, and migrants, Fars
reported. Ahmadi-Moqaddam said police have seized some 900 tons of
drugs in the 12 months to late March 2008, which he said was a relative
increase due in part to increased drug production in neighboring
Afghanistan. He said he hopes there will be "relative" security on the
eastern frontier by the end of the 2005-10 five-year plan, and a
"satisfactory" level of security five years later, Fars reported. VS

Intense fighting broke out in the southern port city of Al-Basrah on
March 25 between Iraqi forces and rival Shi'ite militias, leaving at
least 30 people dead and more than 100 wounded, Iraqi and international
media reported. The clashes erupted after the Iraqi government launched
a major military operation in the city in a bid to restore order. The
operation came a day after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited the
city and vowed to impose law and order (see End Note and "RFE/RL
Newsline," March 25, 2008). He is reportedly personally overseeing the
operation and stressed to reporters that the situation in the city
called for swift action. "Al-Basrah city is experiencing a brutal
campaign from internal and external groups targeting its security and
stability by killing scientific, social, and spiritual personalities as
well as innocent men and women," al-Maliki said. Iraqi forces initially
entered the Al-Tamiyah neighborhood, a stronghold of radical Shi'ite
cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Imam Al-Mahdi Army. Numerous reports suggested
that the focus of the operation is elements of al-Sadr's militia, but
during an interview with Al-Arabiyah satellite television, Iraqi
government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh denied this. "These operations are
not targeting the Al-Sadr party. There is a campaign to disarm
unauthorized weapons and there are no exceptions at this point," he
said. SS

Muqtada al-Sadr called on March 25 for a nationwide campaign of civil
disobedience to protest the targeting of Al-Mahdi Army fighters in
Al-Basrah and throughout Iraq, "Al-Hayat" reported. A spokesman for
al-Sadr's movement in Al-Diwaniyah, Sheikh Abu Zeinab al-Qarawi, said
the group from March 25 "called for a campaign of civil disobedience in
all Iraqi cities because of the government's continuing campaign of
detention and elimination of Al-Sadr Trend members." A spokesman for
al-Sadr's group said the cleric has called on all followers not to
confront Iraqi soldiers, but instead to hand out copies of the Koran
and olive branches. However, a senior al-Sadr aide read a statement
that warned of a "civil revolt" if attacks by U.S. and Iraqi forces
continued. The militia has kept a relatively low profile since al-Sadr
called for a six-month cease-fire last year. U.S. military commanders
credit the cease-fire with a sharp decline in violence. Sheikh Ahmad
al-Ali, a representative of al-Sadr's movement in Al-Basrah, told
Al-Jazeera satellite television that the Al-Basrah operation is
politically motivated. "This ongoing operation in Al-Basrah appears to
be security-related, while, in fact, it is a political one," he said.
In the Baghdad Shi'ite slum of Al-Sadr City, Al-Mahdi Army fighters
ordered Iraqi policemen out of the district, and forced shops and
schools to close. Hundreds of followers marched in several districts
demanding the release of detained militia members. SS

As Iraqi forces battled Shi'ite militias in the southern city of
Al-Basrah, violence and unrest have spread to other regions of Iraq,
Iraqi and international media reported. "The New York Times" reported
serious clashes between Iraqi forces and Shi'ite militias in Al-Kut and
Al-Hillah. Al-Sharqiyah television reported that the offices belonging
to the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Islamic Supreme Council
of Iraq (ISCI), and the Al-Da'wah Party located in eastern Baghdad were
set on fire. The ISCI is widely considered the chief rival of al-Sadr's
movement. Al-Sharqiyah also quoted a senior Iraqi military official as
saying that al-Sadr followers have seized several military vehicles in
Al-Sadr City. "Voices of Iraq" reported that U.S. forces have
surrounded Al-Sadr City and a curfew has been imposed. SS

Baghdad's Green Zone came under rocket fire on March 25, international
media reported. An Iraqi security official said that at least four
Katyusha rockets hit the heavily fortified area. U.S. Embassy
spokeswoman Mirembe Nantongo confirmed the attack and said there were
"no deaths or major injuries." No one claimed responsibility for the
attack, but U.S. military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Steven Stover
said the rockets were fired from Al-Sadr City. It was unclear if the
attack was related to the violence in Al-Basrah and Baghdad. It was the
second attack on the Green Zone in three days. On March 23, the area
was subjected to an intense barrage of rocket and mortar fire (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," March 25, 2008). That attack reportedly killed some
15 people when several rockets fell short of their intended target and
landed outside the Green Zone. SS

Leading members of Iraq's awakening councils, coalitions of mostly
Sunni tribesmen formed to fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq, have threatened to go
on strike because they have not been paid regularly, "The Guardian"
reported on March 24. The British daily said approximately 80,000
fighters will strike unless their salaries of $10 per day resume. Abu
Abd al-Aziz, the head of the council in Abu Ghurayb, said nearly 500 of
his fighters have quit and he accused U.S. forces of using the
awakening councils and then abandoning them. "The Americans got what
they wanted. We purged Al-Qaeda for them and now people are saying why
should we have any more deaths for the Americans. They have given us
nothing," al-Aziz said. Most awakening-council fighters rely on
salaries provided by the U.S. military because the Iraqi government has
provided jobs for only a few of them. SS

The Iraqi Oil Ministry said that it is exporting approximately 400,000
barrels per day (bpd) through its pipeline into neighboring Turkey, the
highest volume since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, "Al-Azzam" reported
on March 25. Before the invasion, Iraq pumped more than 800,000 bpd
through the Ceyhan terminal. The ministry said that the increased
volume has been sustained for about a week and is mainly due to the
substantial drop in attacks on oil pipelines and acts of sabotage. "We
are hoping to increase the production to 500,000 bpd," Oil Ministry
spokesman Assam Jihad told UPI. SS

Fierce clashes between radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's
militia, the Imam Al-Mahdi Army, and government forces in the southern
Iraqi city of Al-Basrah have sparked concern that the situation could
quickly spiral out of control.

The fighting initially broke out after the Iraqi government launched a
major military operation, Sawlat al-Fursan (Attack of the Knights), in
the city in an attempt to restore order. Al-Basrah has been mired in
violence and thuggery for months -- since the pullout of British forces
-- as rival militias and criminal gangs vie for control of the port
city. While the major actors in the Al-Basrah power play are the
Al-Fadilah Party, the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, (ISCI) and the
Sadrists, reports suggest that the operation was focused primarily on
the Sadrists.

Al-Sadr has responded with a call for nationwide acts of civil
disobedience, and senior leaders within his group have issued veiled
threats that continued targeting of Sadrists will lead to a "civil
revolt." The violence in Al-Basrah has also spread northward to the
towns of Al-Kut and Al-Hillah, well as to the Baghdad slum of Al-Sadr
City.

The fighting in Al-Basrah and beyond might indicate an unraveling of
the cease-fire called by al-Sadr in August that is credited with
reducing the overall level of violence. If that is the case, then Iraq
could be headed toward another bloody cycle of violence.

The operation in Al-Basrah looks like a bold display of force by the
Iraqi government. It could signal the government's increasing
assertiveness as it takes over greater security responsibilities from
the British, who handed much of the governorate over last year. The
operation was planned and carried out entirely by the Iraqi military --
aside from some air cover by multinational forces -- and it could
provide a crucial test of the government's ability to stand on its
own.

Success could hand Prime Minister al-Maliki and his beleaguered
government a major political victory. Critics have maligned al-Maliki
as a weak and ineffectual leader, and a decisive victory in Al-Basrah
could strengthen his position in the eyes of Iraqis and the broader
Arab world.

But the Al-Basrah campaign is also a calculated risk that could prove
disastrous for the prime minister if it goes awry, particularly as
al-Maliki is personally overseeing it. The perception could arise that
he drastically overestimated the ability of his forces; if the
operation becomes protracted and casualties mount, it could result in a
severe public backlash.

Moreover, anything short of a relatively quick and decisive victory
could indicate that Iraqi forces are still unprepared to assume
responsibility for national security. Such a scenario has repercussions
for the presence of British troops, who have been training Iraqi forces
in Al-Basrah. With the handover of much of Al-Basrah to the Iraqi
authorities, there has been considerable pressure in Britain to
withdraw the remaining 4,100 British troops in the region. But the
reduction of British troop numbers in Iraq is predicated on the
assumption that Iraqi forces will be able to take over security
operations in the region.

There appear to be several factors behind the timing of the al-Maliki
government's launch of these Al-Basrah operations. First, Al-Basrah is
vitally important to Iraq's economy and to its overall stability, and
any significant volatility in that southern city would be keenly felt
throughout the rest of country. The city is Iraq's only major port and
oil hub, and insecurity there would endanger the export of Iraq's main
commodity: oil. Al-Basrah is the departure point for nearly 90 percent
of Iraq's oil exports to world markets.

Second, the security situation in Al-Basrah has deteriorated to the
point where the Iraqi government had little choice but to act to
restore order. Reports suggested that armed groups had taken over
hospitals and universities in an effort to impose their brand of
religion or political agendas.

Al-Basrah's female residents also came under increasing pressure,
including threats and harassment for wearing what their accusers
considered inappropriate attire. In a March 20 report in "Al-Azzam,"
residents were gripped by fear after the discovery around the city of
several women's mutilated bodies. Police officials claimed they
arrested an armed gang that eventually admitted to killing nine women,
but local officials suggest that other similar gangs operate relatively
unhindered in the city.

Finally, the deteriorating situation in the city might have created an
ideal pretext for the preeminent Shi'ite party, the Islamic Supreme
Council of Iraq (ISCI), to remove or weaken its main political rival,
the Sadrists. The ISCI has kept a wary eye on the growing influence of
al-Sadr's political movement in southern Iraq.

The ISCI might also have been spurred to action by the Presidential
Council's approval on March 19 of the governorates law, which should
pave the way to provincial elections on October 1. There is a widely
held belief that the Sadrists are poised for huge gains in the
Shi'ite-dominated south in the October ballot. The ISCI, the
single-most-powerful political entity in the ruling coalition, could
use the chaos in Al-Basrah to press al-Maliki to move against al-Sadr's
followers, the Al-Mahdi Army, in a bid to significantly weaken the
group before the voting.

While the ISCI's militia (the Badr Organization) has been involved in
the power struggle in Al-Basrah, most reports suggest that the main
target has been the Al-Mahdi Army. That would lend credence to the
argument that there are motives to the military operation beyond the
reimposition of law and order in Al-Basrah.

Indeed, such a notion was underscored by Sheikh Ahmed al-Ali, a
representative of al-Sadr's movement in Al-Basrah, in an interview with
Al-Jazeera satellite television on March 25. Al-Ali alleged that while
"this ongoing operation in Al-Basrah appears to be security-related,...
in fact, it is a political one."

U.S. military officials have stressed repeatedly that one of the main
reasons for the steep drop in violence during the U.S. troop surge is
the cease-fire declared by al-Sadr in August. With the massive Iraqi
military operation under way in Al-Basrah, that agreement clearly is in
serious jeopardy.

The Sadrists accuse the U.S. and Iraqi forces of exploiting the truce
to arbitrarily arrest al-Sadr sympathizers. The Al-Basrah operation
could push al-Sadr to abandon the cease-fire and call on his militia to
return to the streets in self-defense.

The collapse of the cease-fire could have disastrous consequences for
Iraqi stability. The relative lull in assassinations, bombings, and
kidnappings that accompanied it might end, wiping out some of the gains
of the U.S. "surge" in Baghdad and its surrounding areas.

Continued instability in Al-Basrah and in the south might also force
the United States to intervene. Already burdened with trying to root
out Al-Qaeda in Iraq and stabilize the central regions, U.S. planners
can ill afford to shift valuable resources to quell a major conflict in
the south.